diff --git a/osu.Game/Database/EFToRealmMigrator.cs b/osu.Game/Database/EFToRealmMigrator.cs
index 85d65fea82..1e21107628 100644
--- a/osu.Game/Database/EFToRealmMigrator.cs
+++ b/osu.Game/Database/EFToRealmMigrator.cs
@@ -100,10 +100,6 @@ namespace osu.Game.Database
         {
             base.LoadComplete();
 
-            // needs to be run on the update thread because of realm BlockAllOperations.
-            // maybe we can work around this? not sure..
-            createBackup();
-
             Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
             {
                 using (var ef = efContextFactory.Get())
@@ -470,17 +466,5 @@ namespace osu.Game.Database
 
         private string? getRulesetShortNameFromLegacyID(long rulesetId) =>
             efContextFactory.Get().RulesetInfo.FirstOrDefault(r => r.ID == rulesetId)?.ShortName;
-
-        private void createBackup()
-        {
-            string migration = $"before_final_migration_{DateTimeOffset.UtcNow.ToUnixTimeSeconds()}";
-
-            efContextFactory.CreateBackup($"client.{migration}.db");
-            realmContextFactory.CreateBackup($"client.{migration}.realm");
-
-            using (var source = storage.GetStream("collection.db"))
-            using (var destination = storage.GetStream($"collection.{migration}.db", FileAccess.Write, FileMode.CreateNew))
-                source.CopyTo(destination);
-        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/osu.Game/OsuGameBase.cs b/osu.Game/OsuGameBase.cs
index 3d40126b4f..710a7be8d4 100644
--- a/osu.Game/OsuGameBase.cs
+++ b/osu.Game/OsuGameBase.cs
@@ -197,6 +197,21 @@ namespace osu.Game
             dependencies.Cache(RulesetStore = new RulesetStore(realmFactory, Storage));
             dependencies.CacheAs<IRulesetStore>(RulesetStore);
 
+            // Backup is taken here rather than in EFToRealmMigrator to avoid recycling realm contexts
+            // after initial usages below. It can be moved once a direction is established for handling re-subscription.
+            // See https://github.com/ppy/osu/pull/16547 for more discussion.
+            if (EFContextFactory != null)
+            {
+                string migration = $"before_final_migration_{DateTimeOffset.UtcNow.ToUnixTimeSeconds()}";
+
+                EFContextFactory.CreateBackup($"client.{migration}.db");
+                realmFactory.CreateBackup($"client.{migration}.realm");
+
+                using (var source = Storage.GetStream("collection.db"))
+                using (var destination = Storage.GetStream($"collection.{migration}.db", FileAccess.Write, FileMode.CreateNew))
+                    source.CopyTo(destination);
+            }
+
             dependencies.CacheAs(Storage);
 
             var largeStore = new LargeTextureStore(Host.CreateTextureLoaderStore(new NamespacedResourceStore<byte[]>(Resources, @"Textures")));